Week 7 Fantasy Football Rankings: Standard and PPR Leagues

RotoBaller brings you our Week 7 fantasy football rankings, for both PPR and standard leagues, by authors Zach Wilkens (@LopsidedTrades) and Ryan Rufe (@RyanRufe) along with some Week 7 rankings analysis by Ryan Rufe. For even more Week 7 rankings analysis, be sure to check out our positional rankings going up on the site later today.

Editor's Note: In case you missed it, Zach Wilkens and Ryan Rufe nailed their rankings last week. They were both ranked in the top 10 overall accuracy scores on FantasyPros for last week's fantasy football rankings, going up against some of the biggest and baddest fantasy gurus in the industry. Zach came in at 4th overall (out of 133 experts), and Ryan cam in at 7th overall. Congrats guys, let's show them some love!

Week 7 Fantasy Football Rankings

The NFL season is about 40% of the way through ladies and gents. You should be familiar with the routine by now, but just in case you weren't sure, every week fellow RotoBaller Zach Wilkens and I will be posting our weekly fantasy football rankings and rankings analysis, based on team matchups and expected player performances for the week.

Below are RotoBaller's Week 7 fantasy football rankings for all positions including running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, kickers and team defenses. Hopefully our rankings can help guide you in Week 7, and every other week of the NFL season, when setting your fantasy football lineups. Good luck RotoBallers!

2014 Fantasy Football Rankings powered by FantasyPros
 
 

Week 7 Quarterback Rankings Analysis

Drew Brees is a future Hall of Famer who is typically one of the most matchup proof quarterbacks in fantasy, but I have him ranked outside my Top 10 at the position this week. 1) The Saints will be playing without their top weapon, as Jimmy Graham's shoulder injury will require a few more weeks to heal than initially expected. 2) The Saints will be playing away from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where Brees' struggles whilst playing on the road are well documented. 3) New Orleans will be facing the top-ranked defense in the NFL. Detroit has been a nightmare for opposing signal callers this season and Brees may have problems placing among the top-half of fantasy QBs for Week 7.

Week 7 Running Back Rankings Analysis

With Steven Ridley out for the remainder of the season, it's anyone's guess who will fill the void left open in the New England backfield.  Shane Vereen could improve his fantasy stock with some additional reps, but I don't think Bill Belichick will slot him into any kind of feature role given his injury history. Brandon Bolden and rookies James White and Jonas Gray are the other internal options, but I'm avoiding this situation entirely until we get more clarity on who will see the majority of the reps. By then, it might already be too late to pick up (insert NE running back of choice), but I'm not dropping a valuable bench piece (think Ryan Mathews, Josh Gordon or Knile Davis) to take a gamble on who the starter might be.

Week 7 Wide Receiver Rankings Analysis

Two wideouts that I'm a lot higher on than most experts this week are Cecil Shorts and Anquan Boldin. Shorts is seeing a ridiculous number of targets for the Jaguars and I see no reason for that to stop as long as he's healthy and playing. Health is obviously the big risk with Shorts. Anquan Boldin, on the other hand, continues to play at a high-level at age 34. He's been the 49ers most consistent WR in terms of weekly targets (in the 6-9 range) and Colin Kaepernick could need a big game from him against the Broncos this week. One WR that I continue to sour on each week is the Seahawks' Percy Harvin.  No doubt he's a dynamic play-maker, but Russell Wilson spreads his targets around too much that Harvin is essentially a boom-or-bust play each week.  I'm sure he'll have some big weeks when I rank him in the low-30s or high-40s among WRs, but I simply can't justify ranking him inside my Top 30 at the position right now.

Week 7 Tight End Rankings Analysis

With A.J. Green slated to miss Week 7 against the Colts, I think Jermaine Gresham is a safe bet to score a touchdown and approach or surpass his season-highs in targets (seven), receptions (six) and receiving yards (68). One tight end that I like a lot this week is Rob Gronkowski. The Jets secondary has been terrible, and their linebackers won't be able to stay with Gronk. Tom Brady is looking good over the past two weeks, and I think he will carve up the Jets defense this week with Gronk leading the way.